Gwen Stefani's Secret Suicide Heart Break

The Pop Icon Is Haunted by the Knowledge That Her Friend’s Tragic Death Led to Her Taking Center Stage as No Doubt’s Lead Singer.

MY songs are basically my diaries,” Gwen Stefani once confessed, explaining that some of her best work “has come out of times when I’ve been going through a personal nightmare.” There’s one dark chapter in Gwen’s past, however, that was so devastating she’s never been able to broach it in song: The shocking suicide of her No Doubt bandmate John Spence, which set the stage for her to become the group’s lead singer — and paved her way to pop superstardom.

“Even after all these years, it’s still painful for Gwen to talk about what happened to John,” explains an old friend. “It’s the kind of tragedy you never really get over.”

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